Dissociative disorders and addiction commonly co-occur, making recovery more difficult.1 Both conditions can make day-to-day functioning very hard, and to cope with the symptoms of a dissociative disorder, a person may be more likely to abuse drugs or alcohol.
Addiction, depression, and suicide are all very closely related. People who suffer from severe depression and other mental health issues often engage in risky behaviors or turn to drugs and alcohol to numb their negative feelings. However, chronic alcohol or drug abuse also produces toxic side effects, including mental health issues like anxiety and depression. As a person continues to use alcohol or drugs to cope with depression, they’re likely to experience depressive episodes more often, increasing feelings of hopelessness and despair.
Many people with eating disorders turn to drugs or alcohol to ease their emotional or physical pain or to help them reach their weight loss goals. Unfortunately, these self-destructive behaviors only fuel each other and worsen the person’s state of mind, overall health, and well-being. Understanding eating disorders and addiction and how they fuel each other can help you get the right type of help and treatment to recover.
In 2017, about 20 million people ages 12 or over had a substance use disorder in the past year and nearly 15 million of these
Discovering Beautiful is a powerful narrative about author Brittany Shelton’s personal struggle with addiction and her journey to recovery. Within the pages of her book,
About 7.9 million adults in the United States suffered from co-occurring disorders in 2014, according to the 2014 National Survey on Drug Use and Health